Comprehensive Git Cheatsheet for Developers

Table of Contents

1. Git Configuration
2. Creating and Cloning Repositories
3. Basic Snapshotting
4. Branching and Merging
5. Remote Repositories
6. Inspection and Comparison
7. Undoing Changes
8. Stashing
9. Rebasing
10. Advanced Operations
11. Git Aliases
12. Useful Git Commands

Git Configuration

# Set user information
git config --global user.name "Pranshu"
git config --global user.email "pranshu.bisht@gmail.com"

# Set default editor
git config --global core.editor "vim"

# Set default branch name
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

# List all configurations
git config --list

# Edit global config file
git config --global --edit

# Disable git pull rebase
git config --global pull.rebase false

Creating and Cloning Repositories

# Initialize a new repository
git init

# Clone a repository
git clone <repository-url>
git clone <repository-url> <directory>
git clone -b <branch-name> <repository-url>
git clone --depth=1 <repository-url>
git clone --mirror <repository-url>
git clone --recursive <repository-url>

# Clone without checking out
git clone --no-checkout <repository-url>

# Clone with specific SSH key
GIT_SSH_COMMAND='ssh -i /path/to/private/key' git clone <repository-url>

Basic Snapshotting

# Check status
git status # IMPORTANT

# Add files to staging area
git add <file> # IMPORTANT
git add . # IMPORTANT

# Commit changes
git commit -m "Commit message" # IMPORTANT
git commit -am "Add and commit message"

# Amend the last commit
git commit --amend

Branching and Merging

# List branches
git branch # IMPORTANT
git branch -v

# Create a new branch
git branch <branch-name> # IMPORTANT

# Switch to a branch
git checkout <branch-name> # IMPORTANT
git switch <branch-name>

# Create and switch to a new branch
git checkout -b <new-branch-name>
git switch -c <new-branch-name>

# Merge a branch into the current branch
git merge <branch-name> # IMPORTANT

# Delete a branch
git branch -d <branch-name>
git branch -D <branch-name>  # Force delete

Remote Repositories

# List remote repositories
git remote -v

# Add a remote repository
git remote add <name> <url>

# Remove a remote repository
git remote remove <name>

# Rename a remote repository
git remote rename <old-name> <new-name>

# Change remote URL
git remote set-url <name> <new-url>

# Fetch from remote
git fetch <remote>
git fetch --all
git fetch --prune

# Pull from remote
git pull <remote> <branch> # IMPORTANT
git pull --rebase <remote> <branch>
git pull --no-rebase <remote> <branch>

# Push to remote
git push <remote> <branch> # IMPORTANT
git push --all <remote>
git push --tags
git push --force  # Use with caution
git push --force-with-lease

# Set up branch tracking
git branch --set-upstream-to=<remote>/<branch>

Inspection and Comparison

# View commit history
git log
git log --oneline
git log --graph --decorate --all

# Show changes
git diff
git diff <file>
git diff <commit1> <commit2>

# Show commit details
git show <commit>

Undoing Changes

# Discard changes in working directory
git restore <file>

# Unstage a file
git restore --staged <file>

# Reset HEAD to a specific commit
git reset <commit>
git reset --soft <commit>
git reset --hard <commit>

# Revert a commit
git revert <commit>

Stashing

# Stash changes
git stash
git stash save "message"

# List stashes
git stash list

# Apply a stash
git stash apply
git stash apply stash@{n}

# Pop a stash
git stash pop
git stash pop stash@{n}

# Drop a stash
git stash drop stash@{n}

# Clear all stashes
git stash clear

Rebasing

# Rebase current branch
git rebase <branch>

# Interactive rebase
git rebase -i <commit>

# Continue, abort, or skip rebase
git rebase --continue
git rebase --abort
git rebase --skip

# Rebase with autostash
git rebase --autostash <branch>

# Rebase with autosquash
git rebase -i --autosquash <branch>

# Rebase onto a specific commit
git rebase --onto <newbase> <oldbase> <branch>

# Rebase git pul rebase
git pull --rebase=false

Advanced Operations

# Cherry-pick a commit
git cherry-pick <commit>

# Create a lightweight tag
git tag <tag-name>

# Create an annotated tag
git tag -a <tag-name> -m "Tag message"

# Create a signed tag
git tag -s <tag-name> -m "Tag message"

# Archive a Git repository
git archive --format=zip HEAD > archive.zip

# Find common ancestor of two branches
git merge-base <branch1> <branch2>

# Bisect to find a bug
git bisect start
git bisect bad
git bisect good <commit>

Git Aliases

I am using all custom-alias at one place: click

or

Add your custom alias to your .gitconfig file:

[alias]
  co = checkout
  ci = commit
  st = status
  br = branch
  # etc

Useful Git Commands

# Show file content at a specific commit
git show <commit>:<file>

# Search for a string in all commits
git log -S "<string>"

# Show commits by author
git log --author="<name>"

# Show a visual branch history
git log --graph --oneline --all

# Clean untracked files
git clean -n  # Dry run
git clean -f  # Force clean

# Prune remote-tracking branches
git fetch --prune

# Show who modified each line of a file
git blame <file>

# Count commits by author
git shortlog -s -n

# Find lost commits (after reset --hard)
git reflog

Git help

git help <command> or man git-<command> for more detailed information on specific commands.